Thomas A. McDermott (Interim)

Thomas A. McDermott served as Acting Director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute from May 2010 to February 2011. McDermott oversaw the development and rollout of GTRI’s strategic plan, “A Plan for Preeminence,” in September 2010, and the establishment of the Cyber Technology and Information Systems Laboratory (CTISL), GTRI’s eighth lab, in October 2010.

He has also served as the Director of Research, the Deputy Director of GTRI, and the executive manager for the Institute’s $200 million portfolio of research programs across eight research labs.

He has more than 25 years of background and experience bridging applied research and development, major system development, project management, and executive management. He has been a principal instructor in the Georgia Tech College of Engineering’s Professional Masters degree in Applied Systems Engineering, teaching a unique course that combines leadership, systems thinking, and systems management. He has had research interests in a number of topics relative to complex systems, including modeling dynamic systems, systems thinking, organizational and team behavior, and management of technology.

Prior to joining GTRI, McDermott developed a large breadth of experience in both technical and management disciplines at Lockheed Martin, culminating in the role as Chief Engineer and Program Manager for the F-22 Raptor Avionics Team. He has extensive knowledge and expertise in systems and software engineering and has served on a number of government-independent assessment teams for major acquisition programs. He is currently a member of the Air Force Science Board of the National Research Council. McDermott earned a bachelor of science in physics and a master of science in electrical engineering, both from Georgia Tech.

For more, see the Wikipedia article on Tom McDermott.